I’ve written before here on Corporate Eye about the need to focus your brand strategy, particularly these days when the economy and world around us are tenuous and consumers are looking for a sense of security.\u00a0 Rather than trying to be all things to all people, the smart brands are contracting and focusing their efforts on their unique value propositions more than ever.<\/p>\n
With focus comes a little thing called niche<\/em>, and it’s hotter than ever. A niche brand is one that is extremely focused and often fills a gap that larger, broader brands don’t view as a threat or big enough opportunity to waste their time on.\u00a0 A niche brand is likely to appeal to a highly targeted audience, which means two things:<\/p>\n In other words, naturally a niche brand is going to appeal to a smaller audience than a broad brand does.\u00a0 However, within that concentrated target audience who wants and needs the niche brand, sales penetration should be higher, repeat purchases should be higher, and brand loyalty should be even higher.<\/p>\n The marketing world is all about niches these days.\u00a0 The economy isn’t the only reason for this shift though.\u00a0 The social Web also played a part in redefining brand strategy by providing a way for people to connect with others about the topics, products, and so on that matter to them most.\u00a0 While there are millions of Web sites and blogs dedicated to broad topics, there are fewer devoted to specific niches, benefiting from long tail search engine optimization, and building relationships with consumers who are likely to have already expressed an interest in the brand’s message and promise based on their wants and needs.<\/p>\n History also dictates that brands will broaden and then contract, broaden and then retract, and so on — over and over again.\u00a0 That’s because history is cyclical.\u00a0 Think about the mergers and acquisitions of the 1990s, creating giant companies that found it nearly impossible to get out of their own way in the 21st century and therefore, cannot get anything done.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there are far too many corporations that still fit that definition, but many have become victims of their own size and been forced to sell off businesses, declare bankruptcy, accept government bailouts, etc.<\/p>\n The bottom line is that the hot trend right now is niche branding and marketing.\u00a0 Are you prepared to refocus your brand?\u00a0 Have you already done so?\u00a0 Leave a comment and share your story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve written before here on Corporate Eye about the need to focus your brand strategy, particularly these days when the economy and world around us are tenuous and consumers are looking for a sense of security.\u00a0 Rather than trying to be all things to all people, the smart brands are contracting and focusing their efforts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,95],"tags":[100,3551,5866,5864,5865,5863],"class_list":{"0":"post-29380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-best-practices","7":"category-brand","8":"tag-brand-strategy","9":"tag-corporate-brands","10":"tag-niche","11":"tag-niche-brands","12":"tag-niche-business","13":"tag-niche-marketing","14":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n\n